How to have a difficult conversation. Whether it's asking your co-worker to turn down their music, telling your boss you're quitting or letting an employee go, you're going to have tough conversations over the course of your career. Your life will be much better if you get comfortable with being straightforward. That doesn't mean rude, of course; you can be direct and kind at the same time, but you do need to assert yourself and get comfortable with difficult topics. Speaking of direct ...

　　如何应对尴尬的谈话?

　　不论是让同事把音乐声关小，告诉老板要辞职还是让员工走人，这些都是你在职业生涯中会经历的尴尬场面。如果你可以坦然直言，那你的生活会轻松许多。当然直言并不意味着粗鲁，因为你可以在直接表达自身想法的时候，也表现自己善良真诚的一面。但是你要坚持自己的立场，面对这些尴尬的话题也能泰然自若。直言……

　　How to stand up for yourself politely and professionally. There may be times when your employer does something that you need to push back on – for example, offering you a promotion with significantly more responsibility but no raise, expecting you to work unreasonable hours for months on end or violating a labor law. In these cases, it's key to know how to professionally advocate for yourself. Usually that means being assertive but not aggressive, calmly explaining the issue and being direct about what you need. For example: "I'm happy to pitch in when needed, but this schedule has me working seven days a week for the next month with only two days off. I'm not able to do that because of commitments outside of work, so let's talk about how else we can structure this."

　　如何礼貌而又专业地维护自己?

　　有时候面对老板的某些作为，你需要加以推辞，例如，给你升职，但是只增加了更多的工作职责，却没有加薪，希望你数月连续加班或违反劳动合同法等。在这些情况下，最关键的是要知道如何有理有据的维护自己。通常情况下，这意味着你必须义正言辞地维护自己的权益，但又不能带有攻击性，你要冷静地给出自己的解释并坦言自己的需求。例如，你可以这么说：“当公司确实需要我的时候我愿意赴汤蹈火，但下个月每周工作七天，月休两天的不合理安排，实在让我没法接受，因为这超出了我的工作责任范围，所以让我们谈谈如何更改一下这样的日程安排吧。”

　　What you're good at and what you're not so good at. Early in your career, it's pretty normal not to have a well-refined sense of where you shine and where you don't. But if you've been working for most of your 20s, by the end of them you should have fairly nuanced information about what you're better at than others, what you're much better at than others, what you want to work on improving in and what you should probably avoid altogether.

　　明确你工作中的强项和弱项。

　　在你职业生涯的初期，你可能无法准确判断自己的闪光点以及弱势，这都很正常。但是如果你已经工作到快奔三的年龄，那就应该清楚地知道自己在哪些方面比较擅长，哪些方面尤其具备优势，哪方面还需提升，以及哪方面则完全需要敬而远之。

　　What to do when you make a mistake. At some point, you're going to make a mistake at work because you're human. When you do, how you handle it will often matter more than the mistake itself. The key is to take responsibility for what happened; don't make excuses or be defensive. Let your boss know what happened and – this is crucial – how you plan to ensure it doesn't happen again. If you do that, you'll have proactively addressed what your manager probably cares about most and he or she is less likely to impress the seriousness of the mistake on you.

　　如何处理自己所犯的错误?

　　人非圣贤，孰能无过，所以有时在工作中，你也难免会犯错。当你犯错后，重要的是如何解决问题而非纠结于错误本身;你要为自己所犯的错误承担责任，而不是找借口为自己辩护。你要跟老板坦白自己的过错，这点也很关键;此外，你还需要跟老板保证下不为例。以上都是当你犯错后，老板最在意的方面，如果这些你都能积极主动地做到，那么老板很可能就不那么在意错误本身的严重性。

　　Your reputation matters. Your reputation for doing great work and being easy to work with is what will give you more and more professional options over time. It's what will let you avoid bad jobs and bad bosses and what will give you a safety net when you need to leave a job quickly or find a new one across the country. That means that it's not worth doing things like leaving a job without notice or telling off your boss, and it's worth it to go above and beyond to build a reputation for excelling.

　　你的声誉很重要。

　　假如你有这样的声誉——能做大事，同你一起工作轻松而又愉快，那么在你往后的职业生涯中，会因此获得越来越多的职业选择。这样的声誉会让你避开糟糕的工作和老板，而且，在你马上要离职或需要在国内找到一份新工作时，它还会成为你的后盾。拥有这意味着，不要做些不值当的事，例如离职时不告知你的老板或不辞而别。追求突破，努力树立自己的良好声望才是最值得的事。

（编辑：何莹莹）